It’s that time of year; time to look back on the year that was and look forward to what the future holds in store for digital marketing. The industry is gearing up for the dawning of a new digital decade. The experts have made their predictions, but what do you think are the most important strategies and channels for 2010 and beyond? It’s your turn to weigh in on the future of digital marketing. Let your voice be heard in our 4th annual marketing and media survey.

This survey is intended to provide the marketing community with a better understanding of how online marketing plans will impact what we all do in 2010 and beyond. We appreciate your time and feedback. The survey was designed to take you less than five minutes to complete!

In exchange for your time, Datran Media will select 20 lucky winners at random to send a $10 iTunes gift card. They survey will be open until Jan. 22. Thank you in advance for your time!

Click here to launch the survey.

It’s that time of year; time to look back on the year that was and look forward to what the future holds in store for digital marketing. The industry is gearing up for the dawning of a new digital decade. The experts have made their predictions, but what do you think are the most important strategies and channels for 2010 and beyond? It’s your turn to weigh in on the future of digital marketing. Let your voice be heard in our 4th annual marketing and media survey.

This survey is intended to provide the marketing community with a better understanding of how online marketing plans will impact what we all do in 2010 and beyond. We appreciate your time and feedback. The survey was designed to take you less than five minutes to complete!

In exchange for your time, Datran Media will select 20 lucky winners at random to send a $10 iTunes gift card. They survey will be open until Jan. 22. Thank you in advance for your time!

Click here to launch the survey.

Looking for unique ways to drive increased visitor traffic to its Web site, PGATOUR.com. reached out to Datran Media to explore testing live, streaming videos within the body of their emails. Having never leveraged video in email before, embedding live video snippets within the email was a unique challenge, one that certainly paid off with increased clicks and a DPAC award for Best Email Marketing Campaign in 2009.

Last night in New York City, both PGATOUR.com and Datran Media were honored by DPAC as one of the innovators in the rapidly morphing media and marketing industry. Congratulations!

Using state-of-the-art technology with its email platform, StormPost, Datran Media helped PGATOUR.COM deliver groundbreaking email messages with live streaming video embedded within the body of the email. PGATOUR.COM discovered its fans favored video emails over the static email message. Initial campaign results revealed that emails with video received a 34 percent click-through rate versus a 14 percent click-through rate for the emails without embedded streaming video. PGATOUR.COM now plans to integrate additional KPI metrics into the measurement plan it employs as it embeds video into more of its fan-focused campaigns.

Click here to see a summary of this campaign:

http://www.datranmedia.com/pgatour/

Cyber Monday may be over, but it will certainly be memorable for many online retailers. Early reports indicate online sales were up 13.7% versus last year. Additional data from Coremetrics suggests the average shopper spent $180.03 this year, up a whopping 38% from last year's $130.04. In fact, according to ComScore, with over $900 million in sales, 2009 could easily set a record as the biggest grossing day in the short lived history of the shopping holiday, originally coined by Shop.org in 2005.

So how are retailers reaching out to customers this holiday? They are sticking to the basics; using tried-and-true marketing channels like email and search. According to BDO Seidman, in its “Retail Compass Survey,” email promotions were at the top of retailers’ online marketing strategies. A focus on free shipping offers just edged out search marketing for second place. Not surprisingly Shop.org found that 100% of online retailers surveyed planned email marketing efforts to house lists this holiday season.

Despite the fantastic numbers being reported for Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day tends to be later in December, usually the Saturday before Christmas, and is the last day that gifts can be shipped to guarantee delivery by Christmas Day. So retailers can expect another boost to what was a challenging year revenue wise.

The beautiful thing about email is that campaigns can be produced in a relatively short amount of time, which means you can still take advantage of the upcoming holiday shopping surge. Just be sure to employ these crucial email strategies with this email marketing holiday checklist.

Monday night, in the heart of New York City, a panel of digital marketing experts weighed in on the biggest trends of 2009 and contemplated what the future may hold for the online marketing landscape. This was the third annual Digital Evolution panel presented by 212, New York’s Interactive Advertising Club. The panel featured experts from DIGITAS, the Digital Broadcasting Group, Circ.us, Quattro Wireless and Datran Media. Masha Geller, managing partner of Wednesday Marketing Group, moderated the lively debate.

Everything, from the rise of data-driven ad targeting and social media, to episodic online video, mobile, and apps, were discussed in the context of significantly changing media consumption habits. With many companies still scrambling to embrace these new tools as a way to deliver their marketing messages to customers, the panel reviewed some important strategies marketers must employ to keep from falling behind in the ever-changing digital landscape. Audience discovery was a crucial part of this discussion.

One of the most innovative digital trends seen in 2009, according to Datran Media’s Chief Revenue Officer Sean O’Neal, are the new methods marketers have to leverage data for better audience targeting and measurement. Advancements in behavioral technology have given marketers the tools they need to truly understand their audience beyond simple Web browsing statistics, like site visits and time spent on a site. Transactional, behavioral and search data can be blended to better define and discover your customer. What’s more, the opportunity to leverage offline data like retail transaction history and household-level demographics has created the most effective form of addressable media. Being able to reach a targeted audience rather than investing in the mass distribution of your message will drive better results by precision and cost-savings.

So what’s on the horizon for digital marketers? Sean O’Neal believes there will be a major convergence of devices leading to new media channels. New technology will essentially combine the PC and the television, creating a whole new channel opportunity for marketers. Consumers will use a single device to access media, read email and chat with friends and family. Devices like AppleTV are already making this a reality. With the level of data available to marekters, they will be able to hone their messages to their customers at the height of the consumer’s media engagement.

The next 12-24 months are very exciting for anyone in the digital space. But not just for us marketers, consumers will truly benefit by the way we will be able to deliver messages to them.

More than 500 years after Gutenberg unveiled the printing press and helped spread the written word by establishing a new medium for freely distributing information, the Internet has quickly put the future of print in jeopardy. As print readership and circulation levels continue to decrease, and ad pages dwindle, publishers have learned to embrace the Web for content distribution. However, despite the rapid increase in online readership, publishers continue to struggle with effective ways to monetize their online content.

Selling ad space in email newsletters is proving to be the bright spot of the acquisition market — especially in the media/news industry. The Magazine Publishers of America stated that in the first quarter of 2008, email was a central driver behind 70 million unique consumer visits to online magazine sites.

To provide a comprehensive resource for publishers and marketers, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release of Email Monetization Strategies, the next step in the IAB’s ongoing efforts to establish a solid foundation of guidance and tools for the email marketplace. It provides publishers, agencies and marketers with recommendations and best practices for the successful execution of email marketing campaigns.

The recommendations outlined in this document offer best practices and advice for:
Advertisers
o Leveraging email newsletters to reach a valuable audience
o Using the email channel to test offers and promotions
o Driving sales and site registration through stand alone email advertising
o Criteria for choosing a email publisher
o Emerging trend of video in email campaigns

Publishers
o Revenue opportunities through sponsorship and ad units in email newsletters
o Pricing models for email monetization
o Inventory management
o Data collection
o Developing a video email campaign

"The email channel offers a unique opportunity to reach consumers with relevant, differentiated and personalized content and messaging," said Sherrill Mane, SVP, Industry Services, IAB. "Email Monetization Strategies provides an in-depth assessment and guide to maximizing the success of email marketing."

"Email is one of the most effective direct and brand marketing mediums," said Sean O’Neal, Chief Revenue Officer, Datran Media, and co-chair of the IAB’s Email Committee. "These best practices provide the latest information and strategies to marketers and publishers so that they can maximize their email communications with their customers."

This week publishers converged in New York City for DPAC 4. During the full day event, attendees heard from media moguls addressing the future of digital content and the advertising economy. As more and more readers rely on the Web to consume content, digital publishers have a great opportunity to monetize their media. During the DPAC4 opening breakfast, Sean O’Neal, Chief Revenue Officer for Datran Media and Christy Tanner, VP of Marketing and Editor-in-Chief of TV Guide.com will engaged the audience in an animated discussion around how to best monetize audiences in today’s marketplace and far beyond. Here are the five key takeaways they provided the audience.

1.Know Your Audience:
Leverage behavioral, demographic & transactional data to define your audience & create new monetization opportunities.

2.Invest in Advanced Advertising Technologies:
Enabling targeted buys featuring rich media is key.

3.Email is Targeted & Effective:
Mobile growth & new technologies (i.e. email video delivery) will enable email marketers to become even more effective.

4.Email is Targeted & Effective:
Mobile growth & new technologies (i.e. email video delivery) will enable email marketers to become even more effective.

5.Use the Power of Video:
Video’s engagement metrics can help maximize your impact with your audience and your advertisers.


If you would like to learn more about any of these topics, contact us and check out some interesting articles on the topic in our thought leadership library.

The following is a terrific article penned by Datran Media's Chairman & CEO, Patrick Vogt...

With the new season of Mad Men in full swing, it’s a good time to reflect upon how far the advertising agency business has come since the early 1960s. From the dysfunctional inhabitants of Mad Men, to the sardonic and witty tales from James Othmer’s recent book Adland, agency life is portrayed in the media as a high-octane, creative profession with a pathological dark side. In other words, it’s fun to watch. At the fictional Sterling Cooper agency, viewers are subjected to excessive smoking, drinking, sexism, self-loathing and self-destructive behavior on a weekly basis. Yet there is something about the place that makes you really want to work there. Advertising, after all, is where the magic happens.

As Don Draper once put it, “Advertising is about one thing and one thing only, happiness.”

So what has changed in advertising over the last 50 years? Surprisingly, the basic DNA of ad agencies is largely the same. Madison Avenue is still trying to sell happiness to consumers who long for it. Brands are still trying to make us feel hopeful and happy so that we continue to consume. Advertising success is predicated on igniting creative sparks that flare into an increased share of voice within today’s fragmented audience.

In a more profound sense, however, the world around the advertising industry has changed absolutely. Agencies are facing shrinking budgets, widespread adoption of social media and new disruptive technologies. The lines between companies and customers are beginning to blur, as brands question the value of agencies as intermediaries. As advertising budgets are slashed, campaign return on investment is scrutinized through new audience measurement and ad performance technologies.

Metrics & Accountability Matter

“I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half." John Wanamaker

With performance data widely available, clients are now looking for revenue-based results. Brands have begun to explore alternative compensation models for their agency partners, signaling a potential shift in the traditional hourly pay model. While only about 10% of today’s advertising compensation agreements are value-based, that may increase as brands leverage more tools to measure advertising effectiveness.

Some media critics today estimate that up to 80% of ad dollars are wasted as a result of three factors; inflated media prices, a decline in the effectiveness of traditional advertising, and poor decision making. That is a bitter pill for brands to swallow considering how many billions of dollars are spent on advertising each year. Brand management can also be ambivalent about the important role that advertising plays in their business. A recent survey conducted by the Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) showed that 39% of senior brand management viewed marketing as an expense, while 43% viewed it as an investment in brand equity.

At the same time, leaders on the agency side of the equation struggle with the current business model as well. Advertising and media are complicated businesses that take years to master, and agencies don’t appreciate having to validate their contributions every few months. To make matters worse, navigating the new social media channels for clients can be challenging and time consuming. While social media can be a force for good when users champion a brand, it can also be destructive if users decide to wage war. Agencies have had to develop a new level of expertise in this area.

Another aggravating factor for agencies is that they are often required to spend considerable time and money developing full blown creative concepts for which they are never reimbursed. What’s more, clients often try to renegotiate fees after the work is already done. This creates tension in the business relationship as well. Roger Sterling of Mad Men puts it this way, “Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually they hit you in the face.”

The Tipping Point in the Advertising Model

While assigning a value to advertising initiatives is difficult, finding new and better ways to reward agencies for their work can be even more challenging. We now appear to be at tipping point that could transform the role of advertising agencies going forward.

Some large advertising brands like Coca-Cola have recently adopted a “value based” compensation plan for their U.S. ad agencies. The company says that the objective is not to cut costs but to inspire creativity and efficiency (http://tiny.cc/wEgdV). Coca-Cola’s plan will cover all agency costs, plus provide a bonus of up to 30% based on sales performance metrics. Consumer-goods giant Procter & Gamble has also stated that they may abandon hourly fees in favor of a performance related fees for their agency partners. Other global brands like Unilever have recently adopted a performance-based model as well.

A few forward thinking advertising agencies have proactively moved towards a new business relationship where both the agency and client agree to certain key performance indicators (KPIs). Once met, these KPIs ensure that the agency is well compensated and rewarded for meeting specific corporate objectives.
Leo Burnett’s India Chairman and CEO Arvind Sharma, recently said that brands sometimes provide them with compensation incentives linked to sales. Mr. Sharma stated, "We love this model. Since 90-95 per cent of our projects exceed success parameters, the model benefits us.” (http://tiny.cc/6ELgQ). Similarly, the chief executive of Crispin Porter + Bogusky Jeff Hicks has said that a value-based approach has helped his agency work more closely with clients by aligning the agency’s compensation with the advertiser’s profitability (http://tiny.cc/wEgdV). This kind of progressive thinking may allow advertising agencies to get into the driver’s seat to initiate real change throughout the industry.
The New Normal

As time goes on, the economy will no doubt rebound, and social media, blogging and micro blogging will all be seamlessly integrated into strategic marketing plans. Meanwhile, the demand for hard data and ROI metrics will continue until reaching critical mass, at which point full accountability for advertising will be expected as the new normal. That is when the truly creative agencies will find ways to reinvent themselves in order to take advantage of the new advertising paradigm.

Great agencies are in the business of creating real and lasting value for their clients, and I believe they will become the designers of the new agency model. Their contributions run much deeper than simply increasing brand awareness to drive sales. An agency’s work enhances a brand’s reputation, and creates a deeper emotional connection between brands and their customers. An excellent advertising agency partnership is about so much more than the cost of a billable hour. It is about the true value of collaboration and the strategy, positioning, targeting and business intelligence that helps companies to grow and thrive. At the end of the day, we still want advertising to be about the magic.

Not surprisingly, marketers are making customer acquisition and retention top priorities for 2010. According to a survey released by Unisfair, six out of 10 marketers said acquiring new customers would be critical in 2010, while 48 percent will focus on retaining current customers—a particularly important effort in the recession and a topic we recently explored in a very informative webinar.

Of the marketing channels available to them, social media was the top marketing tactic with 75 percent of respondents planning to increase use of the emerging channel as a way to acquire and retain customers. Search (51 percent) and email (48 percent) were right behind, while only 3 percent planned to increase spending on print advertising.

While search and email have proven to be excellent channels for driving customer acquisition and retention, it is still too early to understand what kind of impact social media will have on a marketer’s bottom line. With close to 300 million users on Facebook alone, there is no questioning the reach social media offers marketers, but will it deliver meaningful results? Like email, if done right, I believe social media will be effective. There are many parallels between social media and the email channel when it first became popular. The main thing to understand is that they are not exactly exclusive. Yes, consumers are communicating in social media, but that does not mean they have given up on email, and neither should marketers. Datran Media’s Nicholas Einstein penned a great article on this topic almost a year ago that I believe is still a relevant read today.

There seems to finally be a glimmer of hope that the economy will be heading out of the recession in the next few months. This is great news for consumers and marketers alike. In the meantime, we are all still facing many challenges and trying to come out of this unscathed. Unfortunately, for some long-established marketing mediums, it may be too late.

The digital revolution coupled with the recession has left traditional mediums like print and radio in dire straits. While times are tough for older media channels, not every channel is bleeding. Earlier this year Zenith Optimedia predicted the Internet would be the only channel to see growth. As we head towards the end of the year, their forecast seems to be spot on. According to a survey by Round2, a majority of respondents said they would up their investments in email marketing, search and interactive.

As reported in eMarketer, they survey found that email marketing was the channel most likely to see an increase in spending in 2009, and print was the biggest loser. Again, it is no surprise that more cost-effective channels like email are leveraged more often when budgets are tight. But when we finally come out of this, will advertisers flee these digital channels? Not likely.